It's a damn shame that Bristol's Travelling Man has closed down as now the only place with boardgames seems to Forbidden Planet, which stocks such a paltry selection that they may as well not bother. The only vaguely interesting thing was a Catan expansion I'd not seen before: Traders & Barbarians. Anybody given it a whirl here? I gave the expansion a short review on a previous page. The box comes with five different scenario games inside, each one changes the game in either a small way for two of the games, or the final three scenarios which can be compared to the Seafarers or Cities & Knights in complexity. I can't give you a full review of all the new scenarios since I've only played one. The rules for the others look pretty fun to me though. Definately pick it up if you enjoy any of the other expansion sets.

So. I've got Settlers with expansions and Carcassonne right now. In october my group will be getting the BSG board game and Pandemic. So, we've got our co-operative and are indirectly competitive game categories covered. But, some of the people in the group are expressing interesting in something a little more...head to head. Any recommendations? Oh, almost forgot to mention that the game needs to work decently with only 3-4 players.

So. I've got Settlers with expansions and Carcassonne right now. In october my group will be getting the BSG board game and Pandemic. So, we've got our co-operative and are indirectly competitive game categories covered. But, some of the people in the group are expressing interesting in something a little more...head to head. Any recommendations? Oh, almost forgot to mention that the game needs to work decently with only 3-4 players. What do you mean by head to head? Because BSG sounds pretty head to head. EDIT: If it's "Screw yer neighbour" you're looking for, try Cutthroat Caverns.

Depending on how much fun your people will derive from stabbing each other in the back, Zombies!!! can be pretty fun. The game itself is nothing special, but it facilitates some fantastic "oh, you son of a bitch" moments through almost every event screwing someone over. Alas, the rest of my usual game group (aka my family, when we get together for whatever reason) doesn't get the point and finds the game boring. Your mileage may vary.

By head to head I meant something more along the lines of risk where direct conflict with other players is the goal. In BSG yeah, you can screw people over. But, it's basically a co-operative game, except for one or two players are only pretending to be co-operative.

By head to head I meant something more along the lines of risk where direct conflict with other players is the goal. In BSG yeah, you can screw people over. But, it's basically a co-operative game, except for one or two players are only pretending to be co-operative. I haven't played it, but I hear Dust is like Risk but better.

By head to head I meant something more along the lines of risk where direct conflict with other players is the goal. In BSG yeah, you can screw people over. But, it's basically a co-operative game, except for one or two players are only pretending to be co-operative. I'm a big fan of Age of Empires III: The Age of Discovery. This game, which is nothing like the RTS (fine by me), does an excellent job of having that "euro" flavor while also having a military aspect to the game where you move troops around on a map of The New World and destroy each other.

Both of those sound promising. I'll do some research on them soon.

So. I've got Settlers with expansions and Carcassonne right now. In october my group will be getting the BSG board game and Pandemic. So, we've got our co-operative and are indirectly competitive game categories covered. But, some of the people in the group are expressing interesting in something a little more...head to head. Any recommendations? Oh, almost forgot to mention that the game needs to work decently with only 3-4 players. A Game of Thrones?

I want to get a card game for me and my wife to play. My wife (who isn't a native English speaker, but is pretty good at English) and I often play card games together. I mean poker and stuff. We played Once Upon A Time with friends once, and she won and loved it. She loves anything horror or fantasy. If it wasn't a CCG, MTG would probably be good, though maybe too fussy. I just can't like any CCG, no matter how great, because I picture the developer as some undulating mammon-spawn, 13 greed-arms grasping for my wallet... So any ideas for a card game that isn't a CCG, is for 2 people, and has a magical/horror/supernatural theme? Edit: Tales of the Arabian Nights sounds great, but might be hard to find - anyone played it?

Anybody know a good/cheap online source for boardgames in the UK?

ebay? I would assume them to be fairly cheap worldwide. Other than that, no clue. Sorry.

I want to get a card game for me and my wife to play.... So any ideas for a card game that isn't a CCG, is for 2 people, and has a magical/horror/supernatural theme? Edit: Tales of the Arabian Nights sounds great, but might be hard to find - anyone played it? If you're looking for a fun 2 player card game, similar to Magic, but it's collectable, I recommend Blue Moon. From the site: The world of Blue Moon is in chaos. Its god has abandoned it, and its people are in open war against each other, while the ruling power of three elemental dragons reigns above all! In this original 2-player game designed by Reiner Knizia, each player takes control over one of the Blue Moon peoples - the creative machinations of the Mimix, the fiery Vulca, the lofty Flit, and the clever Hoax - in their quest for dominance. The Blue Moon Legends basic set provides all the material needed to play, including details on the various peoples, a game board, full-color rules, and three plastic dragon figures. Expansion packs contain additional people cards. Even though it says there are expansions, the game is totally self-contained. If you do decide to buy an expansion pack, that is a complete new card set. No random cards, no hunting down rare's or whatever, just a totally self-contained NON-collectable card game. Some images: Box art: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler Card art: Spoiler: show spoiler hide spoiler

Anybody know a good/cheap online source for boardgames in the UK? I love Gameslore.

I want to get a card game for me and my wife to play. My wife (who isn't a native English speaker, but is pretty good at English) and I often play card games together. I mean poker and stuff. We played Once Upon A Time with friends once, and she won and loved it. She loves anything horror or fantasy. If it wasn't a CCG, MTG would probably be good, though maybe too fussy. I just can't like any CCG, no matter how great, because I picture the developer as some undulating mammon-spawn, 13 greed-arms grasping for my wallet... So any ideas for a card game that isn't a CCG, is for 2 people, and has a magical/horror/supernatural theme? Edit: Tales of the Arabian Nights sounds great, but might be hard to find - anyone played it? Actually, I had two Magic decks lying around since Ice age, and dug them up recently to play with my girlfriend. She loves it! The decks are balanced out, they provide for really tight endraces, and the mechanics are still simple. So I'm thinking about keeping an eye out for cards to build a third deck on, and keep it at that. I'm pretty sure I can pick one up at a fleamarket at one point. The blue moon cards don't look as nice, to be honest, which is a big issue for my girl. On a related note, she picked the Settlers of Catan card game up yesterday, haven't played it yet but I'll report back

I want to get a card game for me and my wife to play. My wife (who isn't a native English speaker, but is pretty good at English) and I often play card games together. I mean poker and stuff. We played Once Upon A Time with friends once, and she won and loved it. She loves anything horror or fantasy. If it wasn't a CCG, MTG would probably be good, though maybe too fussy. I just can't like any CCG, no matter how great, because I picture the developer as some undulating mammon-spawn, 13 greed-arms grasping for my wallet... So any ideas for a card game that isn't a CCG, is for 2 people, and has a magical/horror/supernatural theme? Edit: Tales of the Arabian Nights sounds great, but might be hard to find - anyone played it? You might want to look into the Call of Cthulu LCG. They're basically relaunching the CCG in a more structured format where you never need to buy booster packs. You buy a starter set that has all you need to play for 2 (or more, I forget) players, and then they release "Chapter Packs" or some such thing, which are like mini expansions, but nothing is ever random. I, for one, will definitely be checking out the AGoT LCG!

Anybody know a good/cheap online source for boardgames in the UK? I love Gameslore. That looks ideal. Cheers.

I just read news that FFG is producing Wings of War (has anyone mentioned this game? ah to hell with it I"ll do a write up.) and Tide of Iron for the Playstation network and Xbox 360. Seeing as how many of my old boardgaming buddies are now spread across the world, I think it is a really neat option to play these online. Wings of War Shamelessly stolen from Wikipedia. About Wings of War, by Andrea Angiolino and Pier Giorgio Paglia, is a modular boardgame collection published by Nexus Editrice and dedicated to air combat. The games mix card game, board game, and miniature wargaming mechanics to simulate air combat in the 20th century. The first collection is dedicated to the First World War, while a second collection is about the Second World War. The air images and cover scenes are by Vincenzo Auletta, and the landscapes on the cards are by Dario Calì. The graphic design is by Fabio Maiorana. The illustrations are based on extensive historical research. First released in Italian in 2004, the game has an official English edition by Fantasy Flight Games. Other official editions have appeared in German, Greek, French, Spanish, Dutch, Russian and Polish, besides translations into other languages. How it plays Each plane is depicted on a card and has a set of maneuver cards specifically designed for it, with large arrows on them. The player controlling it plans his turn choosing three of them in sequence and putting them face down on the gaming mat. All players reveal at the same time the first card for the turn, put it in front of the plane and move the latter so that the little arrowhead on the rear matches the one in front of the maneuver. Planes can then "fly" on the table or the floor. A ruler is used to see if a plane has enemy cards in his field of fire: if so, the player chooses one target that must take a damage card with a random amount of points (optional rules cover special damages too). Short range fire (up to half ruler of distance) mean two damage cards instead than one. Maneuvers available, firepower and number of damages sustained before being eliminated depend on the airplane chosen. I play this game over lunch with a few friends I have. If you all know what you are doing a game can go pretty quickly. The modularity of the game really keeps it fresh, especially all the different scenarios we dream up. Plus we keep track of our pilots on a piece of paper with their kills, so there is a real nice sense of continuity between games. I know its the wrong war but I name all of mine Yossarian, Major Major Major, or Milo.

That sounds absolutely awesome.

They're releasing Tide of Iron for XBLA? Holy crap that is sweet.

I just read news that FFG is producing Wings of War (has anyone mentioned this game? ah to hell with it I"ll do a write up.) and Tide of Iron for the Playstation network and Xbox 360. Seeing as how many of my old boardgaming buddies are now spread across the world, I think it is a really neat option to play these online. What. Holy crap. FFG's getting super-awesome. Now, if they follow that up with a XBLA version of Battlelore (since they picked up the rights to publish it from Days of Wonder)...

Battlelore, War of the Ring, and Game of Thrones and I will be theirs forever... (I kind of already am)

How is race for the galaxy? It sounds pretty intriguing.

Can someone tell me how awesome Citadels is? We're feeling really tempted lately. (Even though we still haven't even cracked the boxes on a copy of Tide of Iron and two copies of Battle Lore)

I was looking around gametrailers.com and I found a movie for a new Halo board game, seems pretty cool. Halo Interactive Board game